Title of the project
INREEF: Interdisciplinary program to build the resilience of marine protected areas in tourism destinations
Type
PhD Research
Duration
2023-2027
Persons involved
I. Faizal (PhD Candidate)
prof.dr. K.M. Wijnberg (promotor)
prof.dr. R.W.M.R.J.B. Ranasinghe (promotor)
dr.ir. E.M. Horstman (daily supervisor)
dr.ir. B. Vermeulen - Wageningen University & Research (external supervisor)
dr. K. Kujawa - Wageningen University & Research (external supervisor)
Funding of the project
This research is funded by the INREEF Program (Wageningen University & Research) and partly from Indonesian Education Scholarship - Program Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology (Indonesia).
Summary of the research
In marine protected areas (MPAs), tourism is recognized as a two-edged sword that contributes to both stressors as well as to stress-reducing strategies. Here we comprehensively address the role of tourism in coral reef conservation: whilst tourism numbers have been increasing continuously for decades, especially in remote areas, the tourism suddenly came to a complete standstill during the COVID-19 pandemic, providing valuable insights regarding the resilience and economic importance of coral reefs. The INREEF program tackles the question how such fluctuations in tourism, in concert with climate change, fishing and pollution, will affect the ecological integrity, local livelihoods and cohesion, and the governance capacities of MPAs.
Our team will map key causal mechanisms and investigate feedbacks to understand how those are linked to resilience against local and regional stressors and disturbances. Through our inclusive bottom-up approach, local stakeholders will be involved to co-develop governance tools and technological interventions enhancing MPA resilience. We will identify generic indicators, including thresholds, quantifying the health and resilience of coral reefs. With this knowledge base, we will co-develop adaptive management plans that reflect local contexts and stakeholders.
In terms of Hydrodynamic, local hydrodynamics determine the transport of pollutants from the coast to the coral reefs. However, there currently is a lack of understanding on the role of local hydrodynamics on such pollution flows, impeding the development of local pollution models to directly estimate the transport and delivery of tourism related pollutants around small islands and surrounding coral reefs.
Keywords
Biophysical pollution modelling
More information
Ibnu Faizal
Room: Horst-Ring Z236
Tel: +31534894613